A Lochee minister has called for locals to come together and share their memories of a historic church, destroyed in a huge fire, for the sake of the community’s heritage.
The Old and St Luke’s Parish Church on Methven Street was gutted in a huge blaze on Monday evening, which was first reported at 9pm.
Police and the fire and rescue service are currently carrying out an investigation into the cause of the incident, which forced nearby homes to be evacuated.
Firefighters managed to stop the spread of the flames to neighbouring properties; however the church, built in 1830, has been left a burnt out shell.
Speaking at the scene today Lochee Parish Church minister Reverend Willie Strachan said it was a “huge loss” for both the local area and wider Dundee.
He added his congregation would be discussing how it can “find ways of retaining some of the memories” of the building.
Lochee fire: Major investigation into what caused devastating late-night blaze
Rev Strachan said: “(My first reaction was) just shock and sadness and upset because although the building had not being used as a church for some years now, it holds a lot of memories for individuals.
“Whether that is through worship, baptism, weddings, funerals; but also just social activities, (the) clubs that went on in there many years ago brought people together.
“Lots of friendships were formed there, bonds made there. It is also a huge loss in terms of its heritage for Lochee and also for the city of Dundee I would suggest.
“One of the things I do want to discuss with folk is how we find ways of retaining some of the memories.
“Although the building has obviously been damaged, people’s memories about it and what went on in it, we can retain that in some way for the future heritage of Lochee.”
Lochee fire: Major investigation into what caused devastating late-night blaze
He said: “Everybody is shocked, everybody is upset. We’re all very very pleased that there have been no injuries.
“Nobody has been hurt as we understand it. Obviously some folk were evacuated last night.
“Hopefully we’ll do whatever we can to help support them if that’s possible. I’ve had
Lochee fire: Major investigation into what caused devastating late-night blaze
Rev Strachan said: “(My first reaction was) just shock and sadness and upset because although the building had not being used as a church for some years now, it holds a lot of memories for individuals.
“Whether that is through worship, baptism, weddings, funerals; but also just social activities, (the) clubs that went on in there many years ago brought people together.
“Lots of friendships were formed there, bonds made there. It is also a huge loss in terms of its heritage for Lochee and also for the city of Dundee I would suggest.
“One of the things I do want to discuss with folk is how we find ways of retaining some of the memories.
“Although the building has obviously been damaged, people’s memories about it and what went on in it, we can retain that in some way for the future heritage of Lochee.”
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/503561/lochee-fire-major-investigation-caused-devastating-late-night-blaze/
He said: “Everybody is shocked, everybody is upset. We’re all very very pleased that there have been no injuries.
“Nobody has been hurt as we understand it. Obviously some folk were evacuated last night.
“Hopefully we’ll do whatever we can to help support them if that’s possible. I’ve had some discussion with local councillors about that. We’re glad that nobody’s been hurt and no other properties have been damaged.”
